“The Art of Aardman: The Makers of Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run, and More” by David Sproxton and Peter Lord

"Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin”

“Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror on Film and Television”

“Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes” by Annette Insdorf

“Call Me by Your Name: A Novel” by André Aciman

“Movies That Mattered: More Reviews from a Transformative Decade” by Dave Kehr

If “Twin Peaks: The Return” left your brain completely baffled (and the chances are good that it did), then consider Mark Frost’s new novel “Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier” an essential gift this holiday season. The book is told from the perspective of FBI files, with each “chapter” shining a light on a different character and filling in the 25-year gap between the show’s original run and the debut of “The Return” in 2017. Frost even provides a few glimpses into the future of “Twin Peaks” after “The Return,” although the details will no doubt make you hope Lynch decides to gives us more “Peaks.” — Zack Sharf

Much like Guillermo del Toro or Tim Burton, Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein (“The Battleship Potemkin”) was a prolific artist who drew compulsively as a means of expressing his ideas, producing thousands of pieces, far more than his relatively few films. Russian film historian Naum Kleiman’s Thames & Hudson coffee table tome, made in cooperation with RGALI, the Russian State Archive of Arts and Literature, collects the rarely seen graphic works of six periods in the life of the revolutionary director.

Laid out chronologically, each chapter includes texts and excerpts from Eisenstein’s own essays and diary entries. When Eisenstein traveled to the United States and Mexico in 1930, his drawings were inspired by ancient and contemporary Mexican art. When Communist Russia clamped down on his freedom of expression, he turned to sketching. These drawings are a revelation. — Anne Thompson

Stephen Galloway’s biography of whip-smart Sherry Lansing, the producer (“Fatal Attraction”) and first woman studio head at Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount, is both thorough and polite. That’s who Lansing is: for 12 years the tall blue-eyed former actress in Armani suits ran Paramount Pictures (1992 to 2004) with a combination of workaholic grit and a beguiling personal style that included calling everyone “honey.” She woke up early to watch the weekend’s TV series on her treadmill, kept track of cultural trends, approved every marketing decision, and obsessed over grosses. She knew the power of a Jodie Foster thriller with female appeal (“The Accused”), Tom Cruise in a “Mission: Impossible” movie, and quickly dumped Alec Baldwin for Harrison Ford in the Tom Clancy series. This book tracks her progress from Howard Hawks ingenue through marrying director William Friedkin (“The Exorcist”) to running two major studios and finally leaving Paramount to become a Regent for the University of California as well as running her Lansing Foundation. “She paved the way for the tsunami of women who now fill the executive ranks of our industry,” said Meryl Streep. “[She was] the pioneer who made ‘female head of studio’ no longer an oxymoron, by virtue of her smarts, her determination, her capacity for tough decisions and not insignificantly, her charm, her calm, and her kindness.” — Anne Thompson

After 40 years of producing classic animated film, TV and commercials, the Bristol animation powerhouse Aardman opened up its vaults to share a behind-the-scenes look inside such stop-motion classics as “Wallace & Gromit,” “Chicken Run” and “Shaun the Sheep.” We see hand-drawn character studies and concept art from sketchbooks, as well as sculptures, puppets, props and their handlers, from mischievous Morph to Rocky the Rooster. Studio founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton wrote the forwards — two men who are insanely gifted about manipulating color and light for our collective delight. — Anne Thompson

Guillermo del Toro spent six years crafting his stereotype-bucking masterpiece “The Shape of Water.” Hinging on an interspecies courtship between characters who don’t speak, the Golden Lion-winning film could only work with sweeping visuals. From initial sketches to cast commentary and a director-penned forward, it’s all been documented in Gina McIntyre’s scrapbook, now available for pre-order. — Jenna Marotta

French director Jean Rollin blended horror and fantasy elements for his memorable films that ooze with sex and surrealism, and feature strong female protagonists. “Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema of Jean Rollin” is jam-packed with essays all written by female critics, scholars and film historians, which explore the core themes at play in Rollin’s films. Featuring over 400 color images, “Lost Girls” is the perfect gift for any fan of European 70s erotica or horror cinephiles who have yet to discover the magic of films like “The Iron Rose” and “Fascination.” — Jamie Righetti

The holidays are a time for food, family and joy but they’re also a time for some really great horror movies. If you know someone who loves films like “Silent Night, Deadly Night” or “Black Chrismas,” “Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror on Film and Television” is the perfect holiday gift. This gorgeous book is filled with 26 essays with titles like “Terror and Transformation: The Enduring Legacy of ‘A Christmas Carol’” and “Apocalypse Sinterklaas: Santa Claus’ Horror Roots in European Folklore,” plus a compendium of nearly 200 film and TV Christmas horror reviews, “Yuletide Terror” is the perfect gift for any horror-loving cinephile. — Jamie Righetti

Veteran film scholar Annette Insdorf has been teaching students how to think critically about movies for decades, and her new book singles out one of the most important parts of the process — the first few minutes, and how they “provide the key to the rest of the film.” Examples assessed in this volume include a range of classics, from “Apocalypse Now” to “Hiroshima, Mon Amour.” FilmStruck subscribers get the added bonus of watching many films featured in the book through an accompanying series curated by the author. —Eric Kohn

Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name” is a masterclass adaptation of André Aciman’s novel of the same name. Sony Pictures Classics opens the film in select theaters November 24 and will expand it across the country throughout December, making the novel an ideal gift for the cinephile in your life who happens to love a good book. The novel and the film are essential companions to one another, each expanding your knowledge of the other. The book fleshes out Elio’s emotional agony a bit more sharply, while the film captures the chemistry between him and Oliver in all its sensual glory. See the movie, read the book, and enjoy one of the great love stories of 2017. —Zack Sharf

Before he was one of MOMA’s top film curators, Dave Kehr loomed large in the Chicago film scene as one of its preeminent critics, writing about a range of movies for the Chicago Reader and developing an exhaustive body of work throughout the eighties. Kehr has the rare talent of bringing intellectual curiosity to a range of acclaimed titles, from “Shoah” to “Used Cars,” while positioning them in fresh contexts that foreground their cinematic innovations. He’s just as adroit at taking down beloved classics a notch or two, and this volume — a followup to the essential “When Movies Mattered” — includes unapologetic takedowns of “The Shining” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” among others. As the internet becomes an overwhelming resource with little in the way of curation, it has become harder to preserve the work of major critics in examining film culture over the years. This collection belongs on any serious cinephile’s shelf, and it’s a terrific excuse to revisit and discover many wonderful movies over the next year. — Eric Kohn